It's hard to keep up with the ever-growing list of foods that keep us happy, healthy and, let’s face it, alive the longest. Here are our favorites.

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Sardines

The Healthiest Food You’re (Probably) Not Eating
There are a plenty of fish in the sea, but not all of them pack as much of a nutritional punch as the tiny sardine. Although small in size, sardines are packed to the gills (literally!) with essential vitamins and minerals that sharpen the mind, keep the heart healthy, and bring your energy up, up, up! Plus, their bones are easy to digest, which makes these scaly superstars one of the most calcium-rich, non-dairy foods out there.

Canned Pumpkin

Best Food for Weight Loss
Peter, Peter pumpkin eater may have been on to something. Pumpkin is more than just a delicious pie filling. It’s low in calories (only 80 per cup) and high in dietary fiber with a side of protein to boot, which means it’s a great tool for weight loss. What’s more, it’s also a nutritional powerhouse that’s chock full of beta-carotene – key for healthy eyes and a strong immune system.

Peanuts

Most Underrated Health Food
Almonds and walnuts may be the hippest nuts on the block, but the peanut deserves some respect. This lowly legume contains just as many heart-healthy fats as its tree-hugging brethren and boasts more protein than any other nut. What’s more, the peanut has one of the highest concentrations of biotin, which may help boost keratin production to strengthen hair and nails.

Oysters

Best Food to Help You Win a Beauty Contest
Sure, they’re slimy and can be moderately dubious if you don’t get them from a trusted source, but the high zinc content in oysters may help keep hair full, nails strong, and skin clear.

Seaweed

Best Food for a Good Night’s Sleep
Just because Thanksgiving turkey feast only happens once a year, it doesn’t mean you can’t sleep like a baby every night. Next to turkey, seaweed has one of the highest levels of the amino acid tryptophan compared to any other food. What’s more, it contains high levels of iodine, which helps keeps the thyroid functioning properly and hormones in check.

Blackcurrants

Best Food to Beat Disease
Move over blueberries. Blackcurrants have the highest levels of the disease-fighting antioxidant anthocyanin (the pigment that makes berries dark blue and red) compared to any other fruit. What’s more, this unassuming berry contains more than three times the amount of vitamin C found in oranges, making it an immunity-boosting powerhouse.

Teff

The Healthiest Food You’ve Never Heard Of
This smallest, ancient grain (teff seeds were found in a pyramid dating to 3359 BC!) proves that big things do come in small packages. With as much calcium as cooked spinach, high levels of vitamin C and a new kind of dietary fiber that helps maintain blood sugar and healthy weight, teff is poised to be the next superfood.

So, you’ve made a commitment to become healthier, take better care of yourself, and ultimately lose that extra unwanted weight. You’ve been absolutely killing it and honestly can’t believe how well you’re doing. Then suddenly, that moment happens. Yes, that dreaded moment of burnout.

You’re having a motivation meltdown! Don’t worry, you’re not alone. We’ve all been there at one time or another, and it’s not a fun feeling, especially after all the work you’ve put in. The truth is, you know at the end of the day quitting isn’t worth it, but you’re almost to the point where you don’t care — you’re ready to throw in the towel.

Before you do, however, we’ve got a few easy tips to help you remember why you started living healthy in the first place. Don’t give up all hope just yet and take a look below.

1. Don't set unrealistic goals.

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Many of us are guilty of superwoman or superman syndrome. This is when you want to do everything and please everyone! You’re saying yes to all that’s asked of you and ultimately end up saying no to things you want to accomplish. Take a look at just how many times you say yes so that you can also say yes to yourself.

2. Remember your reasons.

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The question "Why?" is your internal motivation. Why do you want to reduce your blood sugar? Why do you want to lose weight? The whys are what actually remind you of the reasons you’re doing this in the first place.

3. Say 'choose' instead of 'can't have.'

Photo Credit: Jonny Keen / Flickr

Reframing your thinking does wonders whether you know it or not. When you say “I choose to feel more comfortable in my clothes” vs. "I can’t have ice cream," your life will change drastically. When you choose health and wellness, that’s a positive mindset.

4. Have a plan for challenges.

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As we all know, motivation is fleeting, meaning we need to strategize around the barriers. Problem-solve around your busy schedule and any challenges. Then you’ll have solutions instead of throwing your hands in the air and saying, “I quit!”

Incorporating these small lifestyle changes can make a big difference in your weight-loss goals.

Photo Credit: Huffingtonpost.com

Have a Plan

Confronting our food-centric world without a plan is a recipe for diet disaster. From free samples at Sam's Club to candy bars at the drugstore checkout and fast-food commercials hawking the newest guilty pleasure, temptation really is everywhere. But losing weight doesn't have feel like work—or like a punishment. We talked to three registered dietitians to find easy, healthy ways to eat better and drop pounds consistently in the process.

Eat Fresh

Tip: Every Sunday, take 15 minutes to plan what you'll eat for dinner in the coming week, and then hit the grocery store with a list. If you've got what you need to make dinner each night, you're less likely to reach for a takeout menu or other convenience foods.

"Highly processed packaged foods aren't nearly as satisfying, because whole foods take longer to chew and digest," says nutrition consultant Karen Ansel, MS, RD. "So eating fresh foods like fruits, vegetables, lean meats and low fat dairy means you're a lot less likely to overeat compared to a burger or pizza which you can wolf down in minutes."

Choose High-Quality Carbs

"It's perfectly okay to eat carbs if you're trying to lose weight, butthetype of carbs you choose can make a big difference," Ansel says. "Many of us think whole grains just mean whole wheat bread. But there are loads of healthy, easy options out there. Try oatmeal for breakfast, stir-fried veggies with brown rice for lunch, or grilled salmon overquinoa for dinner."

Eat Every 4 Hours

Tip: Eating regularly both fuels your metabolism and makes it less likely that you'll be ravenous at mealtimes and overeat.

"We need to eat frequently throughout the day to keep our metabolism up," Ansel says. "The trouble is, it's hard to draw the line between eating frequently and all-day grazing. In reality, most of us only need 3 meals and 1 small snack of about 100-150 calories (unless you are extremely active in which case you'd need 2 snacks). To get the most mileage from your snacks, eat them when you're hungriest—namely 3 to 4 hours after your last meal."

Cut Out the Soda

Tip: If you cut out two cans of soda a day, you can lose 1/2 pound a week—even if you make no other changes.

"A can of Coke is 140 calories, and most people who drink regular soda have more than one 12-ounce can per day...I try to get people to cut it out entirely," says Kelly O'Connor, RD, LDN, Director of Diabetes Education at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore, Maryland. "Soda is purely empty calories with no nutritional value at all."

Stop Eating Two Hours Before Bedtime

Tip: Eating just before bed or (horrors!) in bed, causes a calorie pile-up! Most of us end up making unhealthy food choices, and what's more, our bodies won't efficiently burn the calories while we sleep.

"Eating right before bed is a not helpful practice to get into," O'Connor says. "I usually tell my patients if you must eat sweets or other high-calorie, high-fat foods, eat them early in the day(and be moderate in portion), so you can better burn them up!"

Having a snack two hours after dinner (but not right before bed) is perfectly fine, she says, as long as it's 100 to 150 calories. Her snack suggestions include 1 slice of whole grain bread with peanut butter, low-fat yogurt, or 3/4 cup Cheerios and 1/2 cup low-fat milk.

Continue to Eat Your Favorite Foods

Tip: Cutting back on the unnecessary calories from filler foods, like rolls or bread with dinner, allows you to indulge occasionally in the treats you love.

"I've never been successful in counseling someone long-term, when they took their favorites out of their diet entirely," O'Connor says. "Cut back in other places, so you can continue to enjoy your favorite foods on occasion. Not that I recommend fast food, but if you love McDonald's, get a Happy Meal every once in a while. A cheeseburger Happy Meal has about 515 calories if you choose apple juice as the beverage." (Compare that to a Quarter Pounder with Cheese value meal, which weighs in at 1,100 calories.)

Measure Servings with an Ice Cream Scoop

Tip: Using an ice cream scoop at home to serve yourself foods like macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes, and tuna salad ensures that you get a proper portion every time.

"If you were to use a scoop for your potatoes, rice, corn, egg salad and many other scoopable foods, you'd be ensuring you get a consistent portion each and every time," O'Connor says. "I usually tell folks two scoops max (which is equal to 1/2 cup) or preferably, one scoop."

Eat Breakfast

Tip: Just as snacking helps prevent overeating later, so does eating breakfast first thing in the morning.

"When we eat at regular times, our body uses the energy more efficiently," says Dee Sandquist, MS, RD, spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. "Think about keeping a log on the fireplace to keep the fire burning—if your body doesn't know when it'll get fed again, your metabolism slows down and burns less energy."

Eat Protein Three Times a Day

Tip: Every meal should include 2 to 3 ounces of protein, which is equivalent to a portion of chicken or meat that's the size of a deck of cards or 2 small eggs, for example.

"A lot of people might save up and eat protein for dinner, but the body uses protein more efficiently if you spread it out," Sandquist says. "Your body needs protein topromote lean muscle mass. Excess is stored as energy or fat, instead being used to feed muscles."

Make a Few Easy Substitutions

Tip: You can save calories, without eating like a runway model, when you make a few smart substitutions that boost flavor to boot!

Sandquist recommends:

Smashed or thinly sliced avocado, instead of mayo, as sandwich spread

Lettuce, instead of a flour-based tortilla, to make wraps

Spices, instead of heavy sauces, to season meals

Other substitution ideas: plain low-fat or nonfat Greek yogurt, instead of sour cream, on baked potatoes or tacos; English muffins instead of bagels; broth-based soups instead of creamy soups; seltzer or soda water with lime for tonic water.

How to Get Results

The No. 1 takeaway: Be consistent.

"Whichever way you choose to lose weight, whether it's counting calories, fat, or carbs, or cutting portions, do it faithfully every day to get results," O'Connor says. "This should allow weight loss to start within 2 to 3 weeks of making some changes to your eating habits."

And Sandquist cautions patience: "Give it time. The weight comes on over time — it won't come off all at once."

Maybe you love relying on a little of the spicy excitement to make your recipes sing or as a companion to the meals you serve.

This condiment and cooking ingredient sounds like some essential oil made from the juice of squeezing hot chilies. But in reality, it’s an infusion of dried chili pepper in oil that’s easy to make at home.

And while the concentrated punch of heat from your chili oil might just seem fun and frivolous, you’re gaining powerful health benefits every time you indulge.

Photo Credit: Shutterstock

1. Spice up your life.

Maybe there really is something to putting a little more spice in your life. Enjoy more of those hot, spicy foods and you may live longer, says a study in The BMJ.

You know what’s spicy? Hot chili oil!

The 2015 study looked at people in different parts of China. The researchers found continually eating spicy foods cut down on amounts of total and certain cause-specific mortality, with the risk of death going down as the number of days of eating spicy food went up.

So, there you have it: Go nuts on your spicy chili oil because it could save your life.

2. Boost your nutrient intake.

The dried chili peppers found in chili oil come with a wealth of vitamins and minerals that can help the various organs and systems of your body function as they should. They can also improve your body’s immunity.

From the tiny flakes or powder, you gain a powerful boost from vitamins E, A, K, B2, B3 and B6. You also get a healthy dose of the minerals iron, copper, manganese and potassium.

Dried chili peppers even give you some digestive-system-regulating fiber.

You can add all of the healthy fats, vitamins and minerals you’ll obtain from the oil into whatever you’re cooking.

3. Beat pain and inflammation.

The hotter the chili pepper, the more benefits of capsaicin you’ll gain. Capsaicin is a healing substance that counteracts pain and inflammation, among other benefits.

A 2011 study in the British Journal of Anesthesia found that a patch with a high concentration of capsaicin was effective for providing pain relief in patients who had neuropathic pain. The study also noted many other studies have shown low concentrations of topical capsaicin effective.

It’s easy to have a fire burning in your heart for the taste and sensations of chili peppers, but these delicacies also benefit the health of your heart. It’s the capsaicin and other capsaicinoids in chili peppers that can benefit your heart health.

An American Chemical Society report noted that these substances support cardiovascular health. They do so by reducing cholesterol levels and helping blood flow properly through your blood vessels when a gene is contracting arteries and cutting down on normal blood flow.

When you add chili oil to your diet, you gain all these health-enhancing benefits of chili peppers. And these are only some of the positive health effects of enjoying your favorite condiment.

Chili peppers are also associated with weight loss, preventing the start of stomach ulcers and reducing your chances of developing Type 2 diabetes.

Indulge all you want in the spicy goodness of this oil because it’s improving your body at the same time.

Flies given the artificial sweetener sucralose get hooked on the taste, eating more sugar and negating any calorie reduction they might experience from using the artificial sweetener in the first place. The researchers of the paper in Cell Metabolism are wary of extrapolating to humans, but advocate at least knowing how much artificial sweeteners are in one's diet.

Photo Credit: iamharin/Shutterstock When fruit flies get a taste of sucralose, it makes them chase more high-calorie foods.

Artificial sweeteners have become a huge industry. However, according to senior author Dr Greg Neely of the University of Sydney, there is conflicting evidence as to whether they replace sugar consumption, or stimulate more demand. That's not all that surprising. Nutritional studies on humans are notoriously hard, because so many people don't stick to the diet and don't admit it to researchers when they stray. Tightly controlled nutritional research tends to be on very small groups, for short periods of time, or both.

Animal diets are much easier to control. Neely told IFLScience that fruit flies are particularly good to work with because it is possible to test a lot of diets quickly.

“We then applied one component to mice,” Neely said. “We couldn't do the whole thing in mice because it would take years.” Confirming that, at sufficient doses, sucralose triggers a similar craving in mammals gave Neely's team more confidence of its wider application.

"After chronic exposure to a diet that contained the artificial sweetener sucralose, we saw that animals began eating a lot more," said Neely in a statement. "Through systematic investigation of this effect, we found that inside the brain's reward centers, sweet sensation is integrated with energy content. When sweetness versus energy is out of balance for a period of time, the brain recalibrates and increases total calories consumed."

He added: "Using this response to artificially sweetened diets, we were able to functionally map a new neuronal network that balances food's palatability with energy content. The pathway we discovered is part of a conserved starvation response that actually makes nutritious food taste better when you are starving,"

Neely cautioned that the work may not be applicable to all artificial sweeteners. “Fruit flies don't like saccharine,” he told IFLScience, while aspartame proved difficult to administer. Nevertheless, the same mechanism could easily apply to anything that tastes sweet.

When the fruit flies were given sucralose for more than five days, their energy intake increased by up to 30 percent, with Neely telling IFLScience that the more sweetener they were given, the more they ate.

The implications for our own diets are less clear. Neely told IFLScience that to a human, sucralose is 600 times as sweet as sucrose, gram for gram, while flies only find it four times as sweet. So the flies were consuming quantities, relative to body weight, no human would touch. Rather than suggesting dieters should cut artificial sweeteners out entirely, Neely suggested clearer labeling might be beneficial so that people know how much they are consuming.

Looking good is one of the biggest motivators for weight loss of all types. Seeing the results in the mirror or receiving compliments from other people gives many the willpower to keep going. Yet, many people find that weight loss is not the cure-all for insecurities.

Many of the insecurities we face manifest themselves in our own appearance. But, they are often so deeply rooted that even a significant physical transformation cannot relieve them entirely.

Photo Source: Jovo Jovanovic

Here are three reasons losing weight can help, but will not cure your insecurities.

1. Adjusting to a new image is hard.

Losing a lot of weight does not necessarily change the way you see yourself in the mirror, and adjusting to the new image in the mirror is hard. You may look at your reflection and see a trimmer, toned body, but you may not feel like the person staring back at you.

According to Elayne Daniels, a psychologist who works with people on body-image issues, people who were previously overweight or felt they were overweight carry around their perception of that image with them, even after the extra pounds are gone.

The phenomenon of feeling like you are still fat, even when you are far from it, is referred to as “phantom fat.” While it is disheartening, it is common. The perception of phantom fat particularly affects those who were overweight for a long period of time, and then dropped the pounds at a rapid pace.

You may also experience phantom fat if you are anxious about gaining the weight back. Those who have struggled with yo-yo dieting are likely to be more worried about small fluctuations on the scale.

Along with weight loss, it is important to retrain your brain to look at yourself without placing such heavy importance on your looks. You need to understand being thin does not mean being perfect. It will go a long way to helping you reduce your insecurities, regardless of your BMI.

2. Losing weight changes your size, not your life.

There is a lot of talk about changing habits and lifestyles when it comes to losing weight. Many people say, “If I could just lost 30 pounds, then I could….” There is a perception that weight loss results in dramatic life changes that allows you to finally reach your full potential as a human being.

But, changing a habit like overeating does not change who you are. It might change specific aspects of your life, like what size clothes you wear. But, your physical weight will not make you more or less likely to achieve all your dreams.

That is because losing weight and changing your personality are two different goals, and they need to be treated as such.

Encourage yourself to set different goals for different areas of your life. Set goals for your mental health and happiness. Keep weight loss in your physical health goals, and avoid feeling the “need” to lose weight.

If you feel like you “need” to lose weight psychologically, consider switching this mindset to goals that are physical. Train yourself to accept mental goals like enjoying being healthy instead of looking a certain way.

This will set you up to lose weight and also make those important changes to your life that will help you live your dreams.

Happiness and weight loss are often referred to as a package deal. You have never seen a weight-loss success story featuring newly thin people looking grim. But, those are advertisements. They do not reflect reality.

Weight loss often puts you on what is known as the hedonic treadmill. The hedonic treadmill says you might be extra happy after losing weight. But, you will return to your previous happiness level after the excitement wears off.

In other words, you might be elated you have lost weight and spent all that plan devising a workable meal plan. But, that happiness is not a long-term event.

Real, long-term happiness means working toward new goals. It means not expecting a singular event to solve all your problems forever.

Learning to accept the elation you experience after losing weight does not last is important because returning to natural happiness levels is not a reason to let your previous physical goals slip. It also does not take away from your accomplishments in losing weight.

Losing weight is a great start to providing yourself with a physically healthy life, and it might limit certain insecurities for a while. But, if you are not prepared to face yourself and your continued challenges after weight loss, you might see those insecurities are not shed with the extra pounds.

To help support your weight loss and reduce negative feelings, learn how to keep your physical goals separate from your psychological ones. Accept that life is a work in progress, regardless of the number you see on the scale. Embrace that, and you will find it easier to embrace yourself.

Weight loss is an extremely tough task and if you've ever tried to bring your inches down, you'll know what we are talking about. But did you know that you can sleep your way to weight loss? We're not joking. Some useful bedtime habits can actually speed up your metabolism and will help shed those kilos. So here's what you should do before you get ready to snooze.

1. Eating pepper:

Scientific studies have shown that peppers have great fat-burning qualities which help your body metabolise even while you sleep. So if you can and it suits your palate, eat pepper as it helps you lose weight faster.

2. Maintaining a sleep routine:

When you maintain a sleep routine and sleep at the same time every night your body clock gets used to the schedule and begins to work accordingly. This helps your metabolism work in your favour too working positively towards weight loss.

3. Take in protein:

Having protein in the form of milk, Greek yogurt or a protein smoothie is a great idea helps you fight midnight hunger pangs. This will also help your body build more muscle in sleep which is a great way to increase your metabolism for speeding up weight loss.

4. Do stretches or yoga:

Avoid intense exercise at night as it will increase your energy levels and not let you sleep but you can still do some light stretches and yoga poses that will help you sleep better, relax your muscles and keep your metabolism going too.

5. It keeps the munchies at bay:

There are two key hormones here that sleep affects: leptin, which regulates hunger and ghrelin, which works up your appetite. When you don't get enough sleep, ghreline levels rise, which make you more hungry. Conversely, by getting good shut-eye, your leptin count goes up which means your hunger pangs are kept at bay.

It seems like simple, obvious advice: Eat your vegetables, get some exercise, and, of course, take your vitamins.

Or not.

Decades of research has failed to find any substantial evidence that vitamins and supplements do any significant good. And our obsession with vitamins masks a much bigger problem: We're not getting the nutrients we need from our diets.

Photo Source: Reuters

That's the premise of science writer Catherine Price's latest book, "Vitamania," which explores how the tiny, colorful pills transformed the way we think about food.

"We use vitamins as insurance policies against whatever else we might (or might not) be eating, as if by atoning for our other nutritional sins, vitamins can save us from ourselves," Price writes.

They can't. And some of them might actually be hurting us instead. Several supplements have been linked with an increase in certain cancers, while others have been associated with a rise in the risk of kidney stones. Still others have been tied to an overall higher risk of death from any cause.

So if we're not eating right, and vitamins aren't the solution, what do we do?

First, we can change what we eat. For most of us, this means eating less red meat, fewer sweets, and more fresh fruits and vegetables. New USDA guidelines announced in January echo these recommendations.

Several leading nutritionists and public health experts have said that in addition to doing all of the above, we should also eat more healthy fats like those from avocados, oily fish, and nuts.

Photo From: Flickr/Sonny Abesamis

These basics are a good place to start:

Keep vegetables as the cornerstone of your meals. Or, in the words of the famous journalist and food writer Michael Pollan: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."

Snack on nuts. Since they're high in protein, nuts can help stabilize blood-sugar levels - which, if they plummet, can make healthy people feel "hangry" (hungry and angry) and is especially dangerous for people with diabetes. Nuts are also a good source of fiber, a key nutrient that helps aid digestion and keeps us feeling full.

Cut back on added sugar and refined carbs. Diets that are high in sugar and refined carbs (white rice, sweet snack foods, white bread) and low in whole grains (brown rice, whole wheat) have been linked with health problems, while diets high in whole grains and low in refined carbs tend to be linked with more positive outcomes.

Incorporate oily fishlike salmon into your diet. Salmon is rich in omega-3 fats, which help protect our cell membranes, the structure protecting the inner components from their outside environment. They're also the building blocks of the hormones that regulate blood clotting and inflammation.

Eat avocados. While they're high in fat and calories - just half of one packs 120 calories, about the equivalent of a slice of bread - avocados are low in sugar and rich in fiber. So add a few slices to your next meal.

As it turns out, all of the above foods are rich in various vitamins and minerals. Most green, leafy veggies are high in vitamins A, C, and E; colorful peppers and carrots are rich in vitamin A; fish and nuts are high in omega-3s; and avocados are a great source of potassium and vitamins C and E.

With this knowledge, writes Price, "we might rediscover something both surprising and empowering: that, while nutrition itself is amazingly complex, the healthiest, most scientific, and most pleasurable way to eat is not that complicated at all."

Depression and weight problems often go together. Here are tips for handling both.

They are both heavy burdens - weight problems and depression. And they often go hand in hand.

Some people gain weight when they're depressed. Others lose weight, to an unhealthy degree.

Which comes first? And how can you untangle the link between depression and weight -- especially if depression has sapped you of your energy to make changes? Here's what experts say you need to know.

Photo Source: www.webmd.com

Depression and Weight Gain

A March 2010 review of 15 studies, published in the Archives of General Psychiatry, linked obesity to a greater risk of developing depression - and vice versa.

But do people gain weight because they are depressed? Or do they become depressed because of the excess pounds they are carrying? No one knows.

“It’s a chicken and the egg phenomenon,” says psychologist Leslie Heinberg, PhD, who directs the Bariatric and Metabolic Institute at the Cleveland Clinic. “But we do know that depression has lots of symptoms that can worsen obesity - appetite disturbances, lack of energy, lack of motivation to do things.”

In 2009, researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham reported that depressed people tend to gain weight faster than people who aren't depressed.

The bulk of those extra pounds was concentrated around their waists. That’s not good. Belly fat is a risk factor for type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure.

Depression, of course, comes with its own set of risk factors, including suicide, social isolation, drug and alcohol addiction, and anxiety.

Whichever comes first - depression or overweight/obesity - it is a very unhealthy combination. Often, it is a self-reinforcing combo as well.

Eating Yourself Blue

“Some foods, especially foods with high sugar and/or fat content, make you feel better, if only briefly,” says psychiatrist James Gordon, MD, author of Unstuck: Your Guide to the Seven-Stage Journey out of Depression.

“That good feeling makes you want to eat more, which in turn makes you feel bad about yourself,” Gordon says. “That leads to deeper depression, and more eating, and greater amounts of weight gain. It’s a vicious cycle.”

Getting out of that cycle can be a real challenge.

“When you are depressed, it is much harder to get out of bed, much less pay attention to what you are eating,” says Edward Abramson, PhD, an emeritus professor of psychology at California State University at Chico and the author of Emotional Eating: What You Need To Know Before Starting Another Diet.

For doctors, it’s less important to know which came first: the patient's depression or the weight problems. The question is, which one should get the most initial attention?

“If someone comes to me who is severely depressed and overweight, the depression is going to be the primary focus,” says Abramson.

However, he continues, an eating disorder that causes a patient to binge might need to be addressed first: “If their eating is out of control, that becomes the primary focus.”

At the beginning of therapy, that usually means walking. Abramson recommends picking up a pedometer before hitting the sidewalk. By measuring the number of steps they take each time they walk, they can monitor their progress. And, says Abramson, “small victories equal positive thoughts.”

Heinberg often prescribes walking as well. She likes to focus on her patients’ depression for the first six to eight weeks of therapy, introducing low-key exercise only to keep weight steady rather than bring it down. Once the depression is under control, she says, it becomes easier to address weight problems.

Be Active, Make Choices, Feel Better

Exercise is a key part of treating overweight and depression, in part because it allows patients to play an active role in caring for themselves. In fact, Gordon maintains that exercise is the best prescription for treating mild to moderate depression, as well as being helpful for severe depression.

“People feel good about doing things for themselves - that, in itself, is therapeutic,” Gordon says.

Gordon also recommends taking a break from fast food and other unhealthy eating habits; instead, he says, make time to cook a meal for yourself.

“It goes beyond just preparing something healthier to eat than fast food,” says Gordon. “People get engaged in their own care, and that’s crucial to dealing with weight.”

Gordon, who is the founder and director of the Center for Mind Body Medicine in Washington, D.C., includes alternative and complementary treatments in his practice. Key among them is meditation.

“You have to become aware of what and how you eat, through mindfulness,” says Gordon. “Very often, if you are anxious, you are going to eat more. But if you are in a state of relaxation, you won’t be eating frantically or mindlessly.”

Don’t be discouraged if therapy does not provide positive results right away. Treatment takes time. And keep in mind that treating depression and weight problems will likely require more than just a pill and a one-size-fits-all diet plan.

“It is important to have a comprehensive program,” says Gordon, one that addresses all aspects of a patient’s problems and prepares him or her for the hard road back to health. “I don’t have a magic bullet, and you are going to do most of the work.”

The idea losing weight fast is an attractive one isn't it? However, losing weight quickly does not always result in permanent weight loss. Not to mention, it might not be healthy for you in the long run either.

Chances are, you have struggled with being overweight for a number of years, and you have probably developed some habits that contribute to your problem. Shedding extra pounds can seem nearly impossible if you try to stumble your way through it all alone. What you need is a few simple, yet proven weight loss strategies put together by real people that have done it before you that will stand the test of time.

Time Tested Weight Loss Strategies - Photo Source: www.examiner.com

1. Attitude - You must cultivate a positive attitude. No matter how much weight you have to lose, no matter how many diets or "programs" you have tried in the past, you must believe can and will lose weight! Not only is it possible, but it is very likely now that you are arming yourself with this proven weight loss strategy. There is one guaranteed way to not lose weight and that is believing that you can't. You also need to have an attitude of doing whatever it takes to lose weight. There will be obstacles and temptations along the way, but having the right attitude will get you past them.

2. Have Fun - Well, that's an odd thing for a strategy, isn't it? At first glance, that may seem to be the case, but you may as well have fun while you are working hard to improve your health. Work and fun are not always opposites, so go ahead and eat fun food (only on special occasions and in moderation of course) and do fun things to burn calories. Smile! Remember, losing weight is should be rewarding, not drudgery. People like Leslie Sansone, Chalene Johnson, Shaun T, Zumba Experts, are just a few experts that all have programs that really make working out and eating well fun yet effective.

3. Resources - No man or woman is an island, and trying to lose weight all by yourself is an exercise in futility. Things like weight loss guides and meal plans, food scales, calorie counters, phone apps, gym memberships, workout DVDs, a personal trainer, accountability group/partner, and so on are all important tools to work with. The more resources you have and make use of, the more likely you are to succeed.

4. Be patient - How long did it take you to weigh as much as you do now? If you are several pounds overweight, then it's a safe bet that you did not gain all the weight overnight, or even in a few months for that matter. Therefore, it's going to take some time to take that weight off. However, if you follow a good plan combined with a proven weight loss strategy, then you should be able to lose weight faster than you put it on.

5. Celebrate! - It isn't always easy to lose weight, but it is possible. Be sure to celebrate the small successes along the way, as well as reaching your ultimate goal.

6. Rinse and Repeat - You will stumble along the way and that's okay. We all have and still do at times. You need to stay calm and remember it's just a minor blip in the grand scheme of things, but don't forget to get right back to it. Bottom Line: Don't give up!

For those who are extremely overweight or suffer from obesity, gastric bypass and Lap-Band surgeries have been the go-tos to help them shed weight. These super invasive procedures help patients drop serious weight—think upward of 100 pounds or more—but, they also come along with restrictive diets that have to be followed forever.

While gastric bypass and Lap-Band surgeries are proven to be successful, a new weight-loss device just received approval by the FDA and it’s different than anything else we’ve ever seen. Named AspireAssist, a small tube is placed in the upper part of the stomach through a small incision (you’re put under twilight anesthesia during the 15-minute outpatient endoscopic procedure) that connects to a small port, that works kind of like a button, on the outside of your stomach. The port-like device is easily hidden by clothes.

Photo Source: www.newbeauty.com

AspireAssist helps to cut down on the amount of calories that the body absorbs by physically removing about 30 percent of the food before it gets digested and absorbed. Here’s where it gets gross. After each meal, you attach a connector and tube to the port, which allows food that isn’t utilized by the body to be drain out from the tube and into the toilet. The emptying process takes about five to 10 minutes and should be done about 20 minutes after eating.

Besides the fact that AspireAssist lives outside the body, it’s also different from other weight-loss procedures because it’s minimally invasive and reversible (it can be taken out in a quick 10-minute procedure). Also, once you’ve had the procedure, you can pretty much eat whatever you like—no foods are considered off limits—although healthy eating is advised. But, you should "aspire your food," three times per day after major meals to get to your optimal weight-loss goals. According to the company that manufactures the device, in clinical trials, patients lose three times more weight using the device than those who just exercised and diet.

“In the constantly evolving world of medicine, new devices and technologies frequently come to market and even achieve FDA-approval,” says Sarasota, FL, plastic surgeon Raja Nalluri, MD. “For patients with morbid obesity and medical conditions related to obesity, a device and/or gastric banding, stapling or bypass procedures are an option and have been successfully implemented to promote massive weight loss and greatly improve patients' health.”

For a cool $13,000 (give or take), you too (if you’re an appropriate candidate, the company says the device should not be used on those with eating disorder) can be on the path to skinny.

This articles is written by from Elise Minton, Executive Beauty Editor of www.newbeauty.com

Some nights, we find ourselves scrolling through Instagram posts, reading quote after quote. Although these quotes may be written to reach a mass audience, we can’t help but admit the amount of comfort some quotes have the ability to bring us.

Photo Source: BONNINSTUDIO

Last summer, I was feeling particularly down on myself. Classes had ended, and I was heading back to the hell hole that is my hometown.

Freshman year had treated me even better than I had thought it would. There was a lot of partying, which, of course, involved drinking. There were also lots of hours spent in the dining hall, eating and gossiping. By the time summer rolled around, I found that I myself had gained a couple of rolls.

I was heading home nine pounds heavier.

Within the first week back home, I had gotten myself a gym membership, made myself a meal plan and subscribed to more fitness programs than I can remember on YouTube.

For an entire month, I went to the gym every single day for two hours. I swore by my meal plan and increased my activity on YouTube by 100 percent (considering I had never really used YouTube before).

Despite all of these drastic changes I had taken on, I still wasn’t happy with my body. I may have been down a roll or two, but I couldn’t help but notice how weak-minded I was while I was exercising. At one point, I found myself in tears. I crashed down on my mat and told myself, “I’m too fat for this.”

Just as I was about to give up on trying to get in shape altogether, I came across a quote on Instagram that said, “Love the body you have, while working toward the one you want.” As cliched as it may sound, that quote sparked an energy that is still burning in me a year later.

This quote taught me a valuable lesson that we should all keep with us while we’re on our journey toward our fitness and weight-loss goals. It stresses on the importance of having a strong relationship with your mind and body while you’re working to get in shape.

If you don’t do what you can to love the body you currently have and appreciate it for what it is now, and if you instead put a microscope on only all the things that are wrong with your body, your journey will be even harder.

By appreciating your body for what is now, you’re not saying you don’t want to make a change. But your current body is looked at as a motivator instead of a handicap. Once I accepted my body for what it was, I was able to make healthy progress by having a stronger mindset.

Sure, in the short term, going to the gym religiously, eating strictly and trying to absorb as many fitness videos as you possibly can might make you feel like you’re on top of the world and on track to a better you. But if you take this path, you may easily get burnt out like I did.

If you accept your body the way it is currently and make realistic adjustments that gradually intensify along the way, you will reach your fitness goals much faster. In fact, you’ll barely feel like getting there was a “journey.” In this way, your change will be much more likely to stick.

When I arrived in Tokyo 40 pounds overweight, I told my new Japanese share-mate about my weight concerns. She said, “Maybe you should take a hot bath tonight. That will help.” A hot bath? What could a hot bath have to do with weight loss? Clearly, I was missing something.

I was yoyo dieting for years and was struggling to lose my goal of 20 pounds. I had the mentality that if I put in more effort, I would reap more reward, so I had been doing intense exercising from ice hockey training, to weight lifting, to high intensity workouts up to two hours per day. I also tried to cut down on dessert, but wound up having moments of binging, followed by justification because I had worked out so much. But simply changing my approach to body care led me to effortlessly lose 40 pounds as a side effect.

Photo From: Carles elitedaily.com/Rodrigo Monzo

In the US, women speed walk in their yoga pants with 2 liter bottles of water tucked under their arms. They shun carbs like the plague, go to intense workouts like CrossFit and describe themselves as being “good” today or “bad” today. But in Japan, I would see slender women eating rice and noodles, going to yoga classes and not drinking any water with their meals.

It seemed to me like the information available about weight loss in the US was valid with scientific back-up, but what’s missing and confusing is the application. How can we intuitively approach a healthy lifestyle when we can’t even sense protein, carbs and calories with our tongues?

If I was to tell women in the US that walking could give them more results of a slender body than high intensity training, they’d think I was crazy. But the thing is, when it comes to your body, more effort doesn’t necessarily mean more reward. If anything, being able to calm yourself allows you to listen to your body and can lead to naturally craving less, and that’s not something you can feel when you’re forcing yourself to get a certain result.

It’s not uncommon for dieters in the US to think that the only way to be healthy is to eat bland grilled chicken with steamed broccoli. But if we’re not training for the Olympics or entering a body competition, then what is it we’re working for? We want to look hot and eat cake, too. And I know it’s possible.

It has been seven years since that first conversation with my Japanese share-mate, and now I’m a health coach with a background in eastern and western lifestyle ideologies. Here are four things I learned that you can implement into your lifestyle to get healthy without being extreme:

1. If you train like a sumo wrestler, you’ll look like a sumo wrestler.
The first moment I realized it’s not about what you do, but how you do it was when I saw a sumo wrestling tournament for the first time. Sumo wrestlers skip breakfast, spend all morning doing intense training so they can lift and push their heavy components. They have a big lunch, followed by a nap and then wake up and repeat in the evening.

Likewise, I had been exercising like crazy and it made me feel ravenous. Regardless of how healthy my meals were, I would eat more than I needed without realizing it. Then I’d feel tired from the workout and warm from the meal, so I’d go to bed. On one hand, I was building muscle and stamina, but I was also adding a thick layer of fat on top of all of the muscle.

One way you can tell if you’re overdoing your workout is if you find yourself hyperventilating. Calm breathing indicates to your body that “everything is OK,” so it’s geared towards targeting the fat on your body for energy. But if you’re stressing your body out, as indicated by gasping for breath, then you’re likely triggering your body to use quick energies in the form of sugars. So, those times when you go home and tell your loved ones not to talk to you until you’ve had something to eat because you’re so hungry you could practically eat your arm off? Those are good indications that you’re overdoing it.

2. Keep your body warm.
A cold body is a dead body. A warm body is a living body. There is a concept called food energetics that isn’t really studied much in the US. Basically, it’s about how the direction in which food grows gives it a certain kind of energy to foods, which is then transferred to us when we eat. Foods that grow in the hot summer weather are considered cooling, so they help your body acclimate to the heat. And foods that grow in the winter weather (like root vegetables) are considered warming and calming to the body.

Raw foods are considered healthy and eaten frequently as part of a healthy diet in the US. Foods like raw salads, raw vegetables, smoothies made with raw fruits and raw greens all fall into this category. These are healthy and detoxifying, but at the same time, if you are eating too much, it can be considered too cooling to the body. It’s not uncommon for people to feel fatigued, as a result.

Have you ever gone to a Chinese restaurant and ordered a raw salad? Probably not. That’s because in the East, their diet doesn’t consist much of raw foods because you want to keep your body warm. If you hate having raw salads, then making sautéed, boiled, stewed or baked vegetables are fantastic contenders.

3. Don’t drink water with meals.
In the US, every café or restaurant you go to will serve you ice water. There’s two reasons this would be looked down upon in the East: First, because it’s cold and you want to keep your body warm. The other reason is that water “douses your digestive fires,” which makes it difficult to digest your foods. In the world of science, this means that water will neutralize the PH of your stomach acid, which makes it really hard for your body to break down foods.

In Japan, most people will have soup with meals. And even if they don’t, they will usually not drink with their meals. It is common, however, to have some warm tea after a meal.

In the US, I constantly see dieting advice urging people to drink more water, but instead of thinking of drinking more glasses of water, you should be thinking of having more foods that are hydrating in your diet. This could mean adding soups with your meals, or having steamed bread instead of baked bread. It also means taking out anything dehydrating, like caffeine from coffee and black teas. So, while it is true you need to stay hydrated, save having water for between meals instead of with them. Stick to hydrating foods during meals instead.

4. Take hot baths.
In addition to releasing tight muscles, hot baths can improve circulation, which helps with digestion and detoxing through your pores. In Japan, people will take a “half bath,” which means you fill the tub until it meets just under your heart area if you were to be sitting in the tub. If you fill the tub above your heart level, it can put pressure on your heart. So, they avoid it.

Temperature is also important. Most people soak in a bath that is between 100 to 107 degrees Fahrenheit. The temperature is enough to improve your circulation without overbooking your body. Hot baths also relax you before bed, so soaking in a hot tub can improve the quality of your sleep.

If you have only ever thought that weight loss comes from calories in vs. calories out, then these tips might sound a bit odd. But when entire nations of people are eating well and having balanced bodies as a result of these tips, while you’re counting calories and killing yourself at the gym, it can’t hurt to give it a try.

US reaches ‘scary’ milestone in obesity epidemic as government warnings fail to reverse dangerous weight gain

In recent years, obesity rates among American women have surged ahead of men. Photograph: McCrickard/REX Shutterstock

More than four in 10 American women are now classified as obese in an alarming new milestone for the nation.

Obesity rates for men and women in the US had been roughly the same for about a decade. But in recent years, women have surged ahead and now just over 40% of women are obese, compared to 35% of men.

The percentages were reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in two articles published online on Tuesday by the Journal of the American Medical Association. The numbers are based on a small government survey that is considered the best measure of the nation’s obesity problem.

Though it is not altogether surprising to health researchers because the nation has long been growing more obese, it is “scary” that the statistic has reached 40% for women, said Dana Hunnes, a dietitian who sees obese patients at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles.

“It’s a really alarming figure, and it’s alarming that it’s continuing to go up despite government calls to action on weight loss and healthy eating,” she said.

Why the problem is getting worse for women faster than for men remains somewhat of a mystery to health researchers. “I don’t know if anyone truly knows for sure,” Hunnes said. Experts say there are a range of possible explanations, including that many women are satisfied with a larger body size.

The rate of obesity in women is also higher than in men across the world, although far lower overall than in the US. According to the World Health Organization, 15% of women worldwide and 11% of men are obese.

Obesity, which means not merely overweight, but seriously overweight, is considered one of the nation’s leading public health problems because it can trigger diabetes and lead to heart disease and other serious health problems. Until the early 1980s, only about one in six adults were obese.

The problem is not increasing as dramatically as it was, but the new numbers show it is clearly not improving, said Dr Felipe Lobelo, an Emory University researcher who focuses on obesity and physical activity.

Researchers looked at obesity rates among different age groups and along racial lines and found wide disparities, mainly ones that have persisted for years.

Obesity continues to be most common among black women. About 57% of black women are obese. In contrast, about 47% of Hispanic women, 38% of white women, and 12% of Asian women are obese.

Among men of different races, obesity rates cluster much closer together — at 35 to 38% for blacks, Hispanics, and whites.